,  _ _ _ 


Orienting 
the  House 


m 


1 


ruflfrtrgfT^frufl 


IsilririfTinllruIirii^ 


THE  LIBRARIES 


COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY 


Avery  Library 


cm  mrl  ITTfTlIriJxlfriJxllriJxllruxinT^ 


I^firiilriJxlliTriJlTTrgiTL^IiTnJflTixirrTrilfiTJLinxrgfm^n 


Orienting  the  House 

A  study  of  the  placing 
of  the  house  with 
relation  to  the 
sun  s  rays 


Price  Twenty -five  Cents 


American  Face  Brick  Association 

130  North  Wells  Street 
CHICAGO 


©  1922.  Eben  Rodgers,  President,  A.  F.  B.  A. 


Detail  of  Residence,  Sheridan  Road,  Chicago,  Illinois 
Walter  Miller,  Architect 


Orienting  the  House 

IN  selecting  a  home  site,  there  are  a  number  of  very 
important  things  to  be  considered.  When  once  you 
settle  the  point  of  convenient  accessibility  to  your  work 
or  place  of  business,  you  doubtless  think  first  of  the 
neighborhood  in  which  you  and  your  family  are  going 
to  live,  the  kind  of  people  about  you,  the  church, 
school,  and  library  privileges,  and  such  like  questions. 

Then  you  will  consider  the  physical  character  of  the 
place,  its  slopes  and  levels,  its  trees,  its  gardens,  its 
outlook,  or,  in  a  word,  its  attractiveness  from  an 
aesthetic  point  of  view;  to  which  are  closely  related  the 
practical  questions  of  pure  water  supply,  good  drainage, 
and  shelter  from  the  extremes  of  weather.  No  matter 
how  attractive  otherwise  a  locality  might  be,  you 
would  not  consider  it  for  a  moment  unless  the  conditions 
of  sanitation  and  healthfulness  were  fully  met;  and  you 
would  want  some  natural  protection  from  the  severe 
storms  of  winter  as  well  as  from  the  blazing  heat  of 
summer.  In  the  winter  you  would  want  as  little  breeze 
and  as  much  sun,  and  in  the  summer  as  little  sun  and  as 
much  breeze  as  possible. 

Finally,  in  selecting  your  site,  it  would  be  well  to  have 
in  mind  the  house  you  intend  to  build  and  the  way  you 
want  it  to  face.  If  possible,  get  your  house  plan  first 
and  select  your  lot  accordingly.  Or,  at  any  rate,  picture 
it  all  out  in  your  mind  to  guide  you  in  selecting  your 
location.  By  a  little  planning  and  forethought  you  may 
not  only  secure  the  outlook  you  want  but  the  exposures 
to  sun  or  breeze  most  desired.  You  cannot  change 


climatic  conditions  or  topography,  but,  to  an  appre¬ 
ciable  extent,  you  can  adjust  the  location  of  your  house 
to  them. 


The  Orientation  Chart,  here  given,  shows  the  points  of 
sunrise  and  sunset,  on  the  horizon,  midsummer  and 
midwinter,  as  well  as  the  direction  of  the  sunlight  each 
successive  hour  of  the  midsummer  and  midwinter  day. 
The  chart  will  thus  aid  you,  so  far  as  conditions  per¬ 
mit,  in  facing  your  house  so  as  to  get  the  sun  or  shade 
where  you  want  it. 

In  the  first  place,  you  see  three  broad,  concentric  circles, 
on  the  outside  of  which  the  rising  and  setting  sun  is 

depicted  for  both  mid¬ 
summer  and  midwinter 
day.  The  figures,  30°- 
50°,  alongside  of  the 
sun  represent  degrees 
of  north  latitude,  wher¬ 
ever  you  may  happen 
to  live,  which,  with 
the  exception  of  most 
of  Florida  and  south¬ 
ern  Texas,  cover  the 
United  States. 
The  short  arrows 
show  the  direction 
of  the  sun’s  rays  at 
sunriseand  sunset. 


The  inner  circle 


represents  your 


Garden  Side  of  Residence,  Westbury,  L.  I. 
Peabody,  Wilson  &  Brown,  Architects 


horizon,  and  the  degrees  marked  upon  it  show  the  points 
of  sunrise  and  sunset,  north  or  south  of  the  direct  east 
and  west  line.  These  angular  distances,  in  terms  of 
degrees,  are  called  amplitudes,  north  or  south,  and 
must  not  be  confused  with  the  degrees  of  latitude  on 
the  earth’s  surface,  indicated  by  the  numbers  along 
side  of  the  sun,  though  intimately  dependent  upon 
them.  The  amplitude  of  the  horizon  point,  where  the 
sun  rises  and  sets  from  time  to  time  during  the  year, 
always  depends  upon  the  latitude  on  the  earth’s  sur¬ 
face  where  you  happen  to  live,  as  may  be  seen  by 
following  with  your  eye  the  direction  of  the  arrows  of 
latitude  through  the  amplitude  circle.  Starting  from 
the  number  indicating  the  latitude  where  you  live,  trace 
the  arrow  until  it  touches  the  amplitude  circle.  You 
can  then  read  the  degree  on  it  which  shows  how  far 
north  or  south  of  the  east  and  west  line  the  sun  rises  or 
sets.  We  are  indebted  to  Professor  Philip  Fox,  of  the 
Dearborn  Astronomical  Observatory  at  Evanston, 
Illinois,  for  determining  these  points. 

The  two  outer  circles  are  sun-dials  for  midsummer  and 
midwinter  day  at  the  40th  degree  of  north  latitude;  and, 
if  you  imagined  them  pivoted  on  their  rising  and  setting 
points  and  tipped  up  from  the  south  to  represent  the 
slanting  path  of  the  sun  during  the  day,  they  show  the 
direction  from  which  the  sun  is  shining  during  succes¬ 
sive  hours  of  the  day  (or  night  on  the  other  side  of  the 
world).  The  shaded  portions  of  these  circles  represent 
night,  which  for  all  northern  latitudes  is  short  in  sum¬ 
mer  and  long  in  winter,  as  the  day  is  short  in  winter 
and  long  in  summer.  If  you  examine  the  hour  spaces 


-5- 


on  the  winter  dial  of  your  winter  night,  you  will  find 
them  exactly  like  those  on  the  summer  dial  of  your  sum¬ 
mer  day.  So  also  your  winter  day  hours  are  spaced  like 
your  summer  night  hours.  South  of  the  equator,  people 
have  precisely  the  same  experiences  only  in  the  reverse 
order.  New  Zealanders,  we  fancy,  wear  straw  hats  in 
January  and  fur  caps  in  July.  If  you  liked  summer  well 
enough  and  cared  to  move,  you  could  live  in  a  perpetual 
summer  on  our  little  globe.  It  is  probable,  however, 
that,  like  most  people,  you  rather  prefer  the  change  of 
seasons,  in  spite  of  occasional  extremes. 

The  irregular  hour  spaces  on  the  dials  would  make  it 
appear  that  the  sun  moves  around  the  earth  in  a  sort 
of  jerky  way.  On  the  contrary,  it  moves,  or  rather  the 
earth  rotates,  at  an  absolutely  uniform  rate,  but  the  tilt 
of  the  sun’s  path  to  your  horizon  line  gives  you  at  cer¬ 
tain  points  a  fore-shortened  view  by  which  the  sun 
seems  to  cover  various  distances  at  various  stages  of 
its  course. 

The  sun-dial  time  is  used  on  our  chart  as  it  more 
universally  applies  at  different  meridians  on  a  given 
latitude,  than  does  our  standard  time  which,  for  the 
sake  of  timepiece  uniformity,  is  a  compromise  based  on 
mean  solar  time.  As  the  earth’s  orbit  is  such  as  to 
make  the  sun  gain  a  little  or  lose  a  little  in  crossing  the 
meridian  each  day  during  the  year,  the  total  annual 
time  of  the  sun  is  averaged  into  uniform  daily  periods, 
which  in  turn  are  divided  into  24  uniform  hours  and 
referred  to  certain  meridians  the  world  round,  about 
an  hour  apart.  To  show  the  exact  position  of  the  sun 
in  strict  agreement  with  these  standardized  hours 


-  6  - 


would  require  a  special  chart  for  every  degree  of  longi¬ 
tude,  and  then  be  of  no  especial  value  for  our  present 
purpose;  for  while  the  astronomer  must  have  exact  time 
to  the  fraction  of  a  second,  the  differences  between 
watch  and  sun-dial  are  not  enough  at  any  time  to 
affect  essentially  our  problem.  So  that,  if  you  do  not 
find  the  hours  marked  on  our  summer  and  winter  sun¬ 
dials,  at  any  time,  exactly  agreeing  with  your  watch, 
you  may,  nevertheless,  trust  them  to  show  you  ac¬ 
curately  enough  from  what  direction  the  sun  is  shining 
at  different  hours  of  the  day. 

The  chart  is  drawn  for  midsummer  and  midwinter  day 
on  the  40th  degree  of  north  latitude,  which  is  taken  as 


Residence,  St.  Paul,  Minnesota  James  Alan  MacLeod,  Architect 


-7- 


the  best  average  line  that  runs  midway  of  the  country 
from  ocean  to  ocean,  passing  through  or  near  New 
York  City  (N);  Philadelphia,  Pa;  Columbus  and 
Cincinnati  (S),  Ohio;  Indianapolis,  Ind.  (S);  Spring- 
field,  Ill.  (S);  St.  Louis  and  Kansas  City,  Mo.  (S);  the 
northern  boundary  of  Kansas;  Denver,  Colo.  (S);  Salt 
Lake  City,  Utah  (N);  Carson  City,  Nev.  (S);  and 
Sacramento,  Calif. (S).  With  the  exception  of  St.  Louis 
and  Sacramento,  which  are  something  over  a  degree 
south  of  this  line,  all  of  these  places  are  either  on  it  or 
within  less  than  a  degree  of  it,  north  or  south. 

You  will  see,  as  drawn  on  the  chart,  how  the  sun’s  rays 
morning  and  evening,  summer  and  winter,  are  indicated 
streaming  out  in  the  direction  of  the  latitude  arrows 


Residence,  Buffalo,  New  York  Edw.  Henrich,  Architect 


-  8  - 


marked  40°.  If  you  live  on  or  near  any  of  the  other  de¬ 
grees  of  latitude,  indicated  by  the  other  arrows,  imagine 
the  center  of  the  sun  slipped  up  or  down  to  that  point, 
and  then  trace  the  rays  lightly  with  a  soft  pencil  across 
the  chart  in  lines  parallel  with  the  respective  arrows. 

Of  course,  if  you  make  any  change,  all  four  suns  must 
be  moved  in  a  corresponding  way,  for  you  will  observe 
how  beautifully  symmetrical  the  chart  is.  For  any 
given  northern  latitude,  the  midsummer  sun  rises  and 
sets  north  of  due  east  and  west  at  exactly  corresponding 
points  on  the  eastern  and  western  horizons,  and  these 
points  in  turn  exactly  correspond,  six  months  later, 
with  those  for  midwinter  day  south  of  due  east  and  west. 


“Home  of  Beauty,”  Design  101,  Rear  View 


-  9  - 


And  this  exact  correspondence  east  and  west,  for  the 
day,  and  north  and  south,  for  the  season,  will  obtain 
for  any  day  in  the  year,  or  for  any  place  you  take  on 
the  earth’s  surface.  Of  course,  it  must  be  noted  that 
the  time  of  rising  and  setting  will  change  with  every 
new  position  taken.  If  you  draw  the  midsummer  sun 
down  and  the  midwinter  sun  correspondingly  up  until 
they  coalesce  at  “E”  and  “W,”  you  have  the  equinoxes 
about  March  21st  and  September  21st,  with  the  sun 
rising  and  setting  due  east  and  west,  and  equal  day 
and  night  in  any  part  of  the  world  except  the  poles. 

Living  where  you  do,  somewhere  between  30°  and  50° 
north  latitude,  the  sun,  summer  or  winter,  will  never 
pass  overhead  at  noon  but  shine  on  a  slant  from  the 


Residence,  Highland  Park,  Illinois  N.  Max  Dunning,  Architect 


-  10  - 


south,  very  much  more  in  winter  than  summer.  This 
slant  of  the  sun,  however,  will  not  concern  you  practi¬ 
cally  so  much  in  placing  your  house,  as  will  the  time 
and  direction  of  sunrise  at  the  extremes  of  June  and 
December,  and  the  position  of  the  sun  the  successive 
hours  of  the  day,  at  those  times  of  the  year. 

You  have  certain  rooms  in  which  you  especially  want 
the  sun,  morning  or  afternoon;  or  a  porch  you  want  as 
much  in  the  shade  as  possible,  let  us  say.  In  tracing 
the  direction  of  the  sun’s  rays,  do  not  think  of  them  as 
converging  or  as  spreading  out.  Think  of  them  rather 
as  coming  in  great,  broad,  parallel  bands  so  that  no 
matter  how  large  your  house  may  be,  the  moment  one 
side  gets  the  sun,  the  opposite  parallel  side  falls  into 
shade.  The  broad  band  of  parallel  lines  streaming 
from  the  sun,  as  seen  on  the  chart,  is  meant  to  illus¬ 
trate  this. 

Now  cut  a  piece  of  light  cardboard  in  the  shape  of  your 
house,  at  a  greatly  reduced  scale,  with  all  its  porches 
and  projections,  as,  for  example,  the  blank  form  on  the 
chart.  Attach  it  with  a  pin  at  the  center  of  the  chart, 
so  it  may  be  easily  turned.  First  place  your  house 
facing  directly  east.  You  will  see  on  midsummer  day 
that  the  north  and  east  elevations  will  get  the  first 
morning  sun.  About  8  o’clock  the  sun  will  leave  the 
north  side  and  begin  to  illuminate  the  south  elevation. 
At  noon,  the  sun  will  pass  from  the  east  to  the  west 
side  of  the  house,  and  then,  at  4  o’clock,  leave  the  south 
and  creep  back  to  the  north  side  of  the  house,  shining 
on  west  and  north  sides  from  then  on  until  its  setting 
between  7  and  8  o’clock  in  the  evening. 


-  li  - 


At  the  opposite  season  of  the  year,  that  is,  in  midwinter, 
your  house,  still  faced  directly  east,  will  have  the  first 
sun  between  7  and  8  o’clock  in  the  morning  on  the  east 
and  south  sides.  At  noon,  the  east  side  will  be  deserted 
for  the  west,  and  from  then  on  the  south  and  west 
sides  of  the  house  will  have  the  sun  until  its  setting 
between  4  and  5  o’clock.  Thus,  in  the  winter,  the  north 
side  of  your  house  will  get  no  sun  at  all.  This  would 
hardly  be  a  good  place  for  the  kitchen,  though  it  would 
be  well  enough  in  the  summer,  as  the  sun  would  be  out 
of  it  by  8  o’clock  in  the  morning  and  not  return  until 
4  o’clock  in  the  afternoon  when  its  rays  are  shorn  of 
much  of  their  midday  strength.  You  know,  of  course, 
that  during  the  changing  seasons  or  the  changing  hours 
of  the  day,  the  sun’s  warmth  depends  largely  on  the 
slant  of  its  rays.  In  the  summer,  the  north  side  would 


be  a  good  place  for  a  shady  porch  most  of  the  day. 
However,  the  east  side  of  the  house  would  give  you  a 
shady  porch  from  noon  till  sunset.  But  a  porch  around 
the  northeast  corner  would  give  you  shade  from  8  o’clock 
in  the  morning  clear  through  the  day  until  sunset. 

By  turning  your  house  one  way  or  another  from  this 
direct  east  and  west  position,  you  can  see  what  modifi¬ 
cations  of  sun  and  shade  you  get.  Suppose  you  turn  it 
northeast,  almost  facing  the  morning  sun  on  mid-summer 
day.  The  front  of  the  house  would  directly  get  the  ris¬ 
ing  sun  between  4  and  5  o’clock  in  the  morning.  At  6 
o’clock,  the  south  front  would  come  into  the  sunlight. 
At  half-past  10  o’clock,  the  east  front  would  fall  into 
shade  for  the  rest  of  the  day,  while  the  west  front  would 
begin  to  catch  the  sun.  By  2 :30  o’clock  in  the  afternoon, 
the  south  side  would  be  in  the  shade  for  the  rest  of  the 
day  and  the  north  side  would  get  the  sun  from  then 
on  till  sunset,  between  7  and  8  o’clock.  A  porch  on  the 
east  front  of  this  house  would  be  in  the  shade  all  the 
summer  day  after  half-past  10  o’clock.  But,  in  the 
winter,  it  would  not  be  so  fortunate  as  the  house 
faced  to  the  cardinal  points,  for,  as  just  indicated,  it 
would  get  the  sun  only  on  two  sides  all  day  long; 
and  yet  the  summer  advantages  might  more  than  com¬ 
pensate.  Try  slighter  turns  than  those  suggested,  and 
you  may  get  just  the  result  you  want  for  a  given  room 
or  porch. 

The  placing  of  your  house  for  the  sun  is  really  a  problem 
of  settling  on  the  rooms  or  porches  you  want  favored, 
and  then  letting  the  other  portions  of  the  house  take  care 
of  themselves.  In  determining  these  questions  of  sun 


-  13  - 


and  shade  on  your  house,  due  consideration  must  be 
given  to  neighboring  structures,  trees,  or  portions  of 
the  house  that  might  otherwise  get  the  sun  if  it  were 
not  for  certain  extensions,  such  as  bays,  porches,  L’s, 
and  the  like.  Of  course,  nearby  hills  or  mountains 
would  have  a  marked  effect  on  just  when  you  got  the 
sun  in  the  morning  or  lose  it  in  the  evening,  no  matter 
where  or  when  the  sun  really  rose  and  set. 

As  already  suggested,  if  you  live  on  or  near  any  of  the 
other  degrees  of  north  latitude  marked,  imagine  the 
center  of  the  suns  slipped  around  to  that  degree,  and 
then  draw  light  pencil  lines  across  the  chart  parallel 
with  the  respective  arrows.  Do  the  same  also  for  other 


Bungalow,  New  Orleans  Nathan  Kohlman,  Architect 


-  14  - 


parts  of  the  year  than  the  solstices  which  are  shown 
here.  For  each  succeeding  month,  move  the  center  of 
the  suns  down  and  up  from  the  solsticial  points  about  a 
third  of  the  distance  to  “E.  ”  At  “E”  the  sun  has 
reached  either  equinox  and  will  rise  directly  in  the  east 
and  set  directly  in  the  west.  Remember  that  for  several 
days  on  either  side  of  a  given  position  of  the  sun,  there 
will  be  no  essential  change  in  the  direction  of  its  rays 
that  you  need  practically  to  consider. 

But  at  the  times,  other  than  the  solstices,  while  you 
can  thus  get  the  direction  of  the  rising  and  setting  sun, 
the  sun-dial  of  our  chart  won’t  exactly  apply.  What 
happens  is  that  as  the  sun  moves  down  or  up  from  the 
solstice  to  the  equinox,  the  summer  hour  spaces  grow 
more  uniform,  while  the  winter  hours  grow  somewhat 
longer.  But  with  the  general  direction  of  the  morning 
and  afternoon  light  settled  for  the  two  solsticial  ex¬ 
tremes,  the  hour  position  of  the  sun  during  the  between 
seasons  will  not  be  of  so  much  importance. 

Of  course,  you  can’t  have  everything  in  this  world 
exactly  your  own  way,  but  by  studying  carefully  the 
Orientation  Chart  in  connection  with  your  plans  for 
building  a  home,  you  may  get  many  valuable  hints  for 
selecting  your  lot  and  locating  your  house  which  will 
lead  to  arrangement  of  lasting  satisfaction  to  you  in 
the  coziness,  comfort,  and  attractiveness  of  your  home. 
A  sunny  corner  or  a  shady  spot,  where  you  need  it  and 
when  you  need  it,  may  cure  an  invalid  or  develop  a 
poet,  as  the  case  may  be  and  as  the  years  go  on. 


-  15  - 


The  Right  Kind  of  House  to  Orient 

BEFORE  you  have  the  problem  of  orienting  your  home, 
you  have  the  more  important  problem  of  deciding  on 
the  kind  of  home  you  intend  to  build.  It  is  one  of  the 
most,  if  not  the  most,  important  question  you  have  to 
settle. 

In  the  first  place,  it  is  an  economic  question,  for  you  want 
to  be  sure  of  getting  value  received  for  the  money  you 
expend.  To  do  so,  the  house  you  build  must,  aside  from 
its  satisfactory  design,  be  permanent;  it  must  be  easily 
and  economically  maintained;  it  must  be  comfortable  and 
safe  against  fire;  and  it  must  be  attractive.  In  a  word,  it 
must  give  you  satisfaction  in  every  way,  inasmuch  as  you 
and  your  family  are  going  to  be  in  it  a  long  time;  or,  if 
circumstances  compel  you  to  move,  you  want  the  house 
to  make  a  persuasively  attractive  appeal  to  the  intending 
renter  or  purchaser. 

Such  a  house  you  can  build  of  brick,  the  endurance  of 
which  has  been  demonstrated  through  thousands  of  years. 
“By  frost,  nor  fire,  nor  flood,  nor  even  time  are  well 
burned  clays  destroyed.”  This  permanence  of  brick  con¬ 
struction  means  a  saving  on  insurance  rates,  on  upkeep, 
and  on  depreciation,  while  the  material  lends  itself  to  the 
most  beautiful  and  varied  artistic  effects.  “Strength  and 
beauty,”  the  essential  characteristics  of  all  good  building, 
may  be  fully  met  in  brick  construction. 

If  you  have  not  already  seen  The  Story  of  Brick ,  you 
should  send  for  a  copy,  as  you  will  find  in  it  many  valu¬ 
able  suggestions. 


American  Face  Brick.  Association 
130  North  Wells  Street 
Chicago 


Rogers  &  Company,  Chicago  and  New  York 


